Mueller has the goods on basically everyone.

[MGKrebs]

Kushner, Bannon, Jr, Priebus, Sessions, Rohrbacher, probably Kelly, Ryan, and several others. If we can believe the chatter, there are multiple sealed indictments just sitting there like the Sword of Damocles. All they are doing now is dotting i's and crossing t's and finding out who will lie. My sources say they don't even need to offer any more deals, they have everything they need.

Left out you might notice, is Pence and Trump himself. That's because there are unlikely to be criminal indictments of them, but rather a referral to Congress. But multiple sources have indicated that there is so much evidence that Congress will not be able to avoid impeachment proceedings, so once it becomes obvious that Pence and Ryan are toast, Orrin Hatch and Rex Tillerson (if he hasn't been fired by then) will have to go to Trump and tell him to resign or go through the process, which he will do, probably after smashing some office equipment.

We all know Mueller isn't leaking anything, and their public statements are few and far between. Nevertheless, if you pay attention to places like Twitter, and maybe read between the lines a little here and there, it is easy to connect the dots and grasp the reality and the magnitude of what we are witnessing. Not only that, we should really honor the brave souls (anonymous or otherwise) willing to publish their speculation/analysis (attributed or not) based on their (unnamed) informed sources of information. It's really quite remarkable. At a time when it is so hard to distinguish between facts and fiction, it's a blessing to have people out there willing to do the critical thinking for us that is required to make sense of all this information.

[bdamomma]

1. K&R

[D_Master81]

2. from your keyboard to God's ears

I've always felt like there was something there, it was just a matter of what that is and will it be found out. If this really was a "nothing burger" why have so many people lied, forgotten or left out info regarding Russia and Russian connections?

Also curious, you have "sources" in the know?

[MGKrebs]

3. My sources are at least as good as viraltitle or bill palmer.

[tritsofme]

10. So are mine, lol

[CCExile]

42. God has text-to-speech!?

Sorry, couldn't help it. 🙂

[dchill]

58. I believe he had it first!

Emphasis on believe.

[L. Coyote]

4. THIS: there is so much evidence that Congress will not be able to avoid impeachment proceedings

[Moostache]

41. Do not underestimate their ability to be purposefully blind...

The GOP is nothing more than a criminal cabal of bought and paid for shills. They see what they are TOLD to see, nothing more and frequently a lot less...

[L. Coyote]

45. That's not blinness, that's eyes-wide-open corruption.

Well, more like money collection basket wide open ....

[get the red out]

5. I hope so

I have a fear that this will all fizzle out to nothing in the end.

[BadgerMom]

32. If something is not done, there will be no fizzle about it.

It will explode. This is no small thing being dealt with. Americans are paying attention.

[SoCalMusicLover]

51. Americans Watch Faux News

Americans don't pay attention to anything.

Hitler could lead them well.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

49. I agree.

Every day it feels more and more like Fitzmas.

I also wonder if the sealed indictments are pure speculation. I am not sure I have seen anything that credibly says sealed indictments have been delivered. Nor do I understand the point of sealed indictments.

[ecstatic]

6. Hurry up! Nt

[gademocrat7]

7. K&R!

[vlyons]

8. It's not hard to distinguish fact from fiction

if you open your mind and put a little effort into researching the facts about rumors and theories. But Republicans don't want to know the truth, and they don't want us to know either. Well the truth is about to land on them like a tsunami wave. Once Mueller's indictments come down, the Republican party will be toast for years. I don't know which has done more harm to the GOP: the absolute harm that they have done to people and to the environment, or the shame and embarrassment they have made us feel about having such greedy criminals and traitors running our gov. Probably a toss-up.

I have said and written this many times. The truth of karma is that it is just like gravity. It never stops working.

[Dopers_Greed]

23. I doubt they'll be toast

Remember 2008? All of us thought the Bush administration + financial crisis were the final nails in the coffin for them. But then they came roaring back the second a black man was elected President.

At best, Dems are going to be able to take back Congress and Presidency for maybe an election cycle or two, before they lose it again.

[BadgerMom]

33. Frankly, Im not focused on 2 or 3 election cycles from now.

The poison must be eliminated sooner rather than later. Then we deal with what happens next.

[rlegro]

47. As an organized criminal organization waiting to be prosecuted....

...you might expect that a thoughtful court would order the Republican Party's complete dismantling, as other courts might break up a monopoly or a mob gang. What did Germany, after all, ultimately do to the Nazi Party? Otherwise, new shoots will sprout from the manure that's left when all these guys go to prison. All assuming Mueller has got them dead to rights, of course.

My biggest question is: what if they refuse to go? Try to create a distraction such as a worldwide military or financial crisis so they can invoke martial law? It doesn't seem to me like they are that organized, but the possibility raises memories of "Seven Days in May":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days_in_May

[Pachamama]

9. Sword of Damocles....a perfect analogy...

This image of the Trump Team with Robert Mueller visiting comes to mind....

[TheDebbieDee]

11. I think it's worse than you think!

Mueller has subpoenaed Deutsch Bank records that will rove that Russians have contributed to the election and re-election campaigns of several republicans - this would account for the recent all-out assault on the DOJ and why the Russia probe must be terminated! The republicans, by protecting Trump are also protecting themselves!

This is speculation on my part but I have read several other prominent Twitterers speculate the same thing. Plus, there's a recent Dallas Tribune (?) editorial that spells this out...

[Cosmocat]

13. Its massive

that has been clear all year.

There are a LOT of republicans who are very much in bed with Russia, particularly in their leadership.

It won't be a 100% clean break, though.

There is going to be Russia money on the books for some Ds, too.

[Eliot Rosewater]

30. The concern is what will trump do to avoid justice, what will deplorables

do when justice is given if it is?

Almost half of this country has admitted they are not country first, and they are also known to be armed.

Not good, as the dipshit traitor in the WH said.

[Cosmocat]

37. VERY tenous

We are so apathetic and comfortable as a country had to see it hitting a critical mass to where it would reach a leve where there is a broad armed defense of 45 and the Rs.

That said, good chance some isolated white supremist groups take some kind of action, and I would be really surprised if there were not lone wolf incidents, and I do fear that there could be random acts of violence toward people who "advertise" their liberal leanings - yard signs, bumper stickers, etc.

But, can't rule it out, this country is WELL into the fascist weeds.

[Eliot Rosewater]

39. White supremacist groups will be problems and so will what I suspect

is about half of the police force in America, who will be sympathetic to them.

I hope it isnt half, but that is my fear. I wish many police departments hadn't been recruiting white supremacists but it is pretty clear they have.

[Cosmocat]

43. I know a good amount of police officers

I would suspect for some there are those kind of underpinnings, but again, they have families, children, and are practical enough to know the ramifications of going rouge.

I mean, in the heat of the moment, they might flip, but they are not oriented toward blowing up the system.

[Eyeball_Kid]

14. You're right about the GOPers protecting themselves.

There will be "Conspiracy against the United States" charges that will extend to members of Congress, most or all of them Republicans. And there will also be Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice charges against GOPers. They're all frightened and panicking, and are practicing the meme that a good defense is a good offense. They're efforts, at best, will only slow down the process temporarily.

Trumpy will have to declare martial law in order to get his way with Mueller and the investigations. He'll get massive resistance if he tries this, and he'll be out on his ear in short order. Guilty GOPers in Congress will have to swallow hard and ignore their own complicity in criminality for the sake of the nation. It's either that or complete chaos.

[ancianita]

68. Yes. They'd better know that they can be indicted on conspiracy to obstruct justice, as well.

I'm going to have very happy holidays!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

64. So Russian campaign dollars laundered via

Deutsch bank? Who is good to follow on Twitter?

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Sources, huh?

And you give the info to DU for free?

How generous.

[MGKrebs]

18. Well I figured if people are going to believe random things they see on twitter

I might as well get in on the act.
Now I don't necessarily believe that things are going to shake out this way, but my sources (my wife the schoolteacher) thinks so, and that's as reliable as most stuff on twitter.

I'm not trying to embarrass anyone but just to point out that anyone can make up anything that might sound plausible but has no basis in fact. There is room for hope and speculation, but to take random twitter comments from unknown persons and draw conclusion from that as if they were fact... it's the same thing many of us accuse the right wing of.

Think of DU as a neighborhood. Don't litter!

[Eliot Rosewater]

31. I was probably the first to post a thread about twitter being all a twit over this last week

and I would do it again because it gives me hope, and I need that because our situation is much more dire than most realize.

Much more.

[Stinky The Clown]

35. Based on THAT explanation, I will rec this thread.

[sofa king]

15. Sorry, I've seen this before.

Remember when the Bush Administration burned a covert CIA agent because of an editorial her husband published, in order to swing an election?

Remember how Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, the mighty, incorruptible Fitz, rolled in, indicted everyone, and sent the entire Bush Administration to prison for the violation of half a dozen different espionage statutes?

Remember all the prophetic posts here on DU that successfully predicted that event?

Yeah. That's where we are right now.

[Zoonart]

28. A miscarriage of justice to be sure, but...

it was not this. The tentacles of this investigation go everywhere. This is treason not seen on this scale in the USA. Treason and corruption that would have already brought down any Democrat. The money laundering cases alone will be epic. Everyone on Capitol Hill knows this. This is why DiFi looked like she wanted to throw up when she came out of that famous Intel briefing.

Fitzmas was a fizzle but this is an A-bomb.

[sofa king]

71. Oh, how I want to believe!

But I believe in the miscarriage of justice a hell of a lot more than I believe in the Republican Party policing itself.

[Pepsidog]

16. I have heard of the demise of the Republicans since W and the Iraq war but lol where we are at

today, R’s control all 3 branches of govt.Dont get me wrong, I despise the treason weasels but I have ZERO confidence anything will come out of the Russian probe. R’s will label it fake news, sweep it under the rug aided and abetted by the right wing media establishment. And I no longer believe all this “chatter” that has amounted to absolutely nothing. Mueller will only let us know what he wants us to know,when he wants us to know, and that’s ok by me. DU is great but too many amateur chatter gossip rumor mongers whose track record of predictions is lousy. Just frustrated

[BadgerMom]

36. This is not about the demise of the Republicans.

This isn’t anything that can be swept under a rug. This horrifies clear/thinking Republicans, too. I actually hope the two-party system will be strengthened. This is as criminal as political at this point.

[Pepsidog]

60. Republicans lied us into a war and near depression without consequences so why should we think

criminal acts and conspiracy to swing an election by a foreign government will be treated any differently than criminal acts that resulted in the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and wholesale destruction of our economy? If anything, the political climate is worse now than during Bush’s presidency so why should anyone think the republicans will be held to account for their actions? History informs us that republicans can do pretty much anything they want with a complicit media, conservative S.C. and vocal 30% base. Call me a cynical but unless the Dems take control in 2018 the R’s will once again get away with destroying our country.

[FreepFryer]

17. Lovely sentiment but a worrying turn of phrase...

At a time when it is so hard to distinguish between facts and fiction, it's a blessing to have people out there willing to do the critical thinking for us that is required to make sense of all this information.

No one should let someone else “do the critical thinking” for them. That’s how this country got in this mess in the first place.

[MGKrebs]

19. Thank you. That is the money phrase here.

It's easy to gloss over that if you are otherwise seeing what you want to see.
This wasn't exactly satire, but trying to make a point.

[Irish_Dem]

20. We have a corrupt congress, common sense says pressure will be applied to them

by Mueller or all his work is in vain.

[Soxfan58]

21. I think he had better hurry

The repervs are circling the wagons in there usual slimy way.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Hide the covfefe pots when you tell Dear Leader Don Ill Dong he is no longer Dear or Leader. . . nt

[getagrip_already]

24. I wish I could be optimistic....

but the decks are tilted on this game....

I keep remembering that nixon was never indicted on anything. Yeah, he resigned, but trump probably won't.

So it will be up to the house/senate to get rid of him, and in the end, I can't find 19 republican senators who will vote to convict.

The evidence on everyone else better be pretty solid, and hopefully someone will be left who will prosecute them.

Really, a conviction requires a prosecutor. If none will file charges, or take charges already filed to court, who goes anywhere? Sure, states can prosecute, but even most of those charges can be federalized and then squashed.

I just have this pit in my stomach that they will kill everything relating to investigations, claim victory, and continue to tear apart democracy and freedom.

We won't win shit in '18 if the russians and dark money come back to play. And why wouldn't they once evrything is stopped?

[MGKrebs]

26. I often use civil rights activists as a model and inspiration.

Even after 150 years we still don't have equality, but they keep fighting, keep plugging along. Two steps forward one step back. Living with injustice every day but not giving up. There is a dream, but you rarely would find a civil rights activist who thinks some white knight is going to fix everything tomorrow, not even Barack Obama. The work continues and it takes stamina, perseverance, and focus. Getting too optimistic and then disappointed dissipates energy.

[Perseus]

25. I want to believe all that

I really hope its all true because the line of succession (Trump->Pence->Ryan) is not good at all, if they all fall then there is hope.

And all they have done up to now should be automatically reversed.

[getagrip_already]

27. after ryan is orin hatch.....

ughhhh

Then tillerson. Then (I think) mattis.

And there ain't no way we will get pelosi if we flip the house. the repugs would never vote to remove both pence and trump without a new vp getting named. We can only imagine who trump or pence would appoint.

[LonePirate]

29. Caution is needed here. Until Mueller indicts them, this is all speculation.

It does not matter what we believe. It only matters what Mueller can prove.

[Bonx]

34. I knew it. There is new evidence EVERY DAY in the best news blogs.

[Honeycombe8]

38. The Repubs in Congress do not have to act. Look at the House's intel committee...

it operates with an in-your-face biased way, not really investigating at all. They have no fears. They are merely going through the motions, confidant that their supporters will go along with anything. Even, as Trump said, should Trump shoot someone in the street.

What I'm wondering is if all the underlings will agree to accept their fate without offering up the Don. It's the underlings who always get indicted and jailed. Never the big guy...unless one of the underlings turns like a worm. Flynn has turned, but as to what? And has he turned against the Don, or against others instead?

A lot of questions.

[EricMaundry]

40. Funny how the Clintons endured 30 years of Republican led investigations ..

.. and never had to fire an investigator.

[fierywoman]

46. Beautiful comment!

[bucolic_frolic]

44. Did someone say 'lies'?

Wonder how many answered questions under oath thinking most of the emails had been deleted or altered?

Might catch a few truth doctors in there.

[Softail1]

48. FFS..nobody "knows" what he has..

...this is no better than the posters last week getting everyone worked up for a big indictment Friday...then it was Monday...now who knows...enough with the speculation framed as fact...I'm keeping cautiously optimistic, but not believing ANYTHING until I see it...

[MGKrebs]

66. Exactly.

I ended the post with "At a time when it is so hard to distinguish between facts and fiction, it's a blessing to have people out there willing to do the critical thinking for us that is required to make sense of all this information" hoping to point out the peril of accepting what you want to believe without any credibility attached to it.

Every advertising writer knows it, PT Barnum knew it, and a lot of bloggers know it; many people will believe whatever you tell them if it's looks like what they want to believe. If we want to be better than the Faux News watching zombies we can't succumb to the same sort of propaganda.

[former9thward]

50. If all these indictments which you think are certain

don't happen what will you think of Mueller?

[rockfordfile]

59. I'm still skeptical because he's a republican

It's rare that republicans do what's right at that level.

[Ferrets are Cool]

52. "there is so much evidence that Congress will not be able to avoid impeachment proceedings"

BULLSHIT! Since when did evidence mean anything to these greedy #$@@#$$? If left to their devices, they will turn a deaf ear to any evidence and sing LALALALALALALALA for the next 3 years. He had better have criminal indictments or we are stuck with those two assholes.

[area51]

61. Color me skeptical also.

Russia notwithstanding, they can see evidence with their own eyes of Trump's mental illness/dementia, yet congress isn't making any move toward getting him out of the white house.

[PatrickforO]

53. This is the true battle for the soul of America. Will our republic prove

strong enough to defeat those who are trying to tear it down?

Is the republic > greed, capitalism and corporate corruption.

[MrModerate]

54. Your last sentence is puzzling . . .

I generally do my own critical thinking, when offered sufficient data, which is what I assumed your comment was.

[MGKrebs]

62. Ah, well you apparently read the whole thing

and read what was there and not just what you wanted to see. Thank you.
At least nobody went on to claim I was some sort of expert with excellent sources.

[SpankMe]

55. I hope Mueller has all the evidence in multiple physical locations

If Trump manages to get stooges to fire Mueller and seal Mueller's offices so that only Trump lackeys have access to the special investigator's materials, then I can see those materials disappearing and then re-emerging at some future time in an altered state that masks the true story behind what we've been seeing and suspecting. The whole kit and caboodle needs to be ready to be leaked in the event the unthinkable happens. We can't let the violent, Republican criminal enterprise win. America as we know it will cease to exist.

[dae]

56. Bookmarked for future reference. 🙂

[democratisphere]

57. Good. WH, House and Senate purge of all the drumpf scoudrels.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

63. So who is good to follow on Twitter??

[infullview]

65. Loosing faith

That Mueller will do what needs to be done. He's a repug nuf said. He'll protect the party. He could probably have acted already on the amount of evidence that exists. Why hasn't he triggered cause for impeachment already? Is he protecting POTUS? In the mean time we sink deeper into financial disparity between the poor and wealthy and the middle class continues to shrink.

[Nitram]

67. "We all know Mueller isn't leaking anything..." I wouldn't be so sure of that.

Mueller carefully chooses his leaks and leaks them in a way that cannot be traced back to him. I wouldn't be surprised if some leaks are actually misinformation to point Trump's minions in the wrong direction, or make them think he doesn't know something that is essential to his case. Leaks are a powerful political and law enforcement tool, but they are illegal. Anything that has leaked cannot be used as effectively to indict or convict someone, so Mueller leaks little tidbits designed to:

1. Scare his targets into incriminating themselves further (just like ol' Columbo).

2. Encourage his supporters and Trump's opposition that he is making real progress.

[MGKrebs]

69. I agree.

I was trying to be a little over the top with some of the comments to see if anyone would call B.S. on me. And you did!

You qualify as a critical reader/thinker in my book.

[Nitram]

70. LOL! Love it!